A taste of autumn from the RHS Autumn Harvest show

Autumn – the season of mellow fruitfulness and a perfect time to visit London for the RHS Autumn Harvest Show, which was positively bursting with all things red, gold and orange.

The show filled both of the RHS’ Horticultural Halls and there was a little bit of everything there: Glorious flowers, richly coloured plants, harvest fare and artisan food. A real flavour of autumn.

Seasonal was the byword where flowers where concerned judging by the displays of the most gorgeous chrysanthemum incurve blooms – two bunches of which came home with me. Blooms may be old fashioned to some but, like dahlias, they really come into their own at this time of year. And an added bonus is that they were British grown, making them just irresistible.

Another autumn favourite on show were tall, magnificent gladioli – extremely tempting to take some of those home as well, particularly the deep burgundy variety.

Britishness was very much in evidence when it came to the produce competitions, one thing we do seem to excel at in the UK is growing outsize fruit and veg.

And what a pleasure to discover practically half a hall devoted purely to displaying and judging the capital’s most select (and enormous) vegetables. There were giant onions, two foot long carrots, and the apples – I’ve never seen so many plates of apples – all beautifully laid out with the name of the variety carefully placed next to them.

Hanging above this melee of greens, russets and reds was the colourful crowning glory of the show, Interflora florist David Denyer’s floral installation ‘A waterfall of dahlias’.

David’s design was suspended high above the visitors in the spacious Lindley Hall. Three delicate panels covered in a carpet of autumnal flowers, berries and leaves, giving the appearance that they were softly floating down from above. And this was just a taster for something much, much bigger. One of the main reasons to visit the show was to hear from David first hand his ambitious and exciting ideas for Interflora’s exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2011.

Following Interflora’s fantastic gold medal win with ‘Progression’ at Chelsea earlier this year, David is planning to create a much larger design on the theme of perspective.

At a press meeting held before the show, David showed off his drawings and scale models of his design, ably assisted by Chelsea Flower Show manager Alex Denman who, for the first time, was also organising the autumn show.

Judging by the reaction of the press and RHS officials, which included their new Director General Sue Biggs, plus gardener and television presenter Joe Swift, it looks like its going to be a very exciting Chelsea for Interflora next year. The floral art which David and his team created for the RHS autumn show is just a tantalising glimpse of what is to come.

To see all of this, and more, keep an eye out for our video of the event, which we will be posting later today!